POLITICAL Leader of the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) Phillip Edward Alexander is requesting a breakdown of the budget for Carnival 2022 from Minister of Finance Colm Imbert.
In a letter sent to Imbert on Tuesday, Alexander said the figures published in the media seemed “outlandish” and may have a “disparity” between them.
Alexander asked for the figures or he will file a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
On Monday, head of the National Carnival Commission Winston “Gypsy” Peters said that between $25 million to $30 million will be spent on Carnival this year including the use of “pods” to host events at the Queen’s Park Savannah. Other venues will include the Queen’s Hall Garden Theatre and the Naparima Bowl amphitheatre in San Fernando. These events are being called a Taste of Carnival.
The downscaled version of Carnival is due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In his letter, Alexander said, “Surely you would agree that taxpayer funds are not to spend wildly or without some measure of accountability, but with the numbers being suggested and the $15 million disparity the obvious question to be asked is if a budget of allocations was done at all.”
Alexander added there was no urgency for the event to suggest as a justification to throw money and account for it after.
He said, “The lack of support from the majority of cultural stakeholders seemed to suggest this was something that should not have been attempted at all.”
Alexander requested the working numbers.
He said, “We ask you to provide us with whatever working numbers guided that twenty to thirty-five million-dollar number within the next forty-eight hours, failing which we will be forced to raise a Freedom of Information request and possibly approach the courts for an injunction to restrain you from this misadventure and safeguard the public’s treasury until the information is made available.
“I am sure that you would agree that considering the urgency with which your government is spending that we would be looking forward to a speedy response.”
